Matthias Krammel in Japan

We had a fire drill on Monday morning. Not exactly what I would want to get out of bed for. But it was actually pretty interesting. The firemen explained some helpful emergency procedures. It’s good to see that Japanese are quite concerned about being prepared for disasters. You never know, the big earthquake might hit Tokyo tonight. Good thing we are not near any skyscrapers that could fall on us here. The university is about one hour from Tokyo station by train.

In these times of rising oil prices, it seems there is finally an increased awareness of the need for new, renewable energy sources. It is incredible how dependent mankind has become on a small number of fuels. When I am in developing countries I feel awful considering how most people have trouble paying for basic energy needs. Therefore I love learning about any kind of new energy technology that is not only renewable but also potentially affordable. Here are two companies with very interesting technologies I have come across recently:

In the “Eastern Thought” class here at Tokyo Christian University, we have been having a lot of discussions based on ideas from “The Book of Tea” by Kakuzo Okakura. He seems to try to explain beauty, aesthetics and civilization in general through the lens of tea and the teaism school of thought. There are a lot of positive things that can be said about the Japanese sense of beauty and harmony, but he is simply taking it too far in many parts. Regardless, we have had many interesting conversations in class spawned by Okakura’s book. I had to do a presentation on Taoism, for which I enjoyed doing the research. Recently, I actually started drinking a lot more green tea. I just put a teabag and water in a jar and let it sit in the refrigerator for a while - doesn’t get any healthier and more refreshing than that. There is no ceremony involved for me though, it’s simply a drink.
The book is in the public domain by the way, so it’s available online for free.

I came across this interesting video that explains house church, or simple church. Here in Japan, it is especially obvious how the institutional church structures often prevent people from encountering Jesus. For me it has been very painful to see how people are turned off by religious structures and traditions here, when Jesus desires to gives us life to the full. While no human expression of church will be perfect, I believe the house church movement is a lot closer to the ideal than anything else.